Nielsen, which operates an office in Columbia Gateway Office Park, announced that streaming usage surpassed cable in July to claim the largest share of television viewing for the first time, according to The Gauge, Nielsen’s monthly total TV and streaming snapshot.

Streaming represented a record 34.8 percent share of total television consumption, while cable and broadcast came in at 34.4 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively. Streaming usage has surpassed that of broadcast before, but this is the first time it has also exceeded cable viewing.

Total time spent watching TV in July closely resembled that of both June 2022 and July 2021, but despite these similarities, the change in the distribution of viewing formats on a year-over-year basis further demonstrates how viewing behaviors continue to shift.

As the biggest mover this month, streaming usage increased 3.2 percent compared to June and gained 1.1 share points. Time spent streaming in July averaged nearly 191 billion minutes per week, and each of the five measurement weeks in July 2022 now account for five of the six highest-volume streaming weeks on record according to Nielsen.

Among streaming distributors, Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu and YouTube each captured record-high shares again in July after previously doing so in June. Netflix represented the largest share of overall TV viewing for a streaming platform with 8 percent, boosted by the nearly 18 billion viewing minutes of Stranger Things alone.